Written Answers Wednesday 28 September 2005

Scottish Executive

Agriculture

John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to rectify any deficiencies in the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 in relation to interposed leases.

Rhona Brankin: We are currently considering the options for dealing with the issues arising from interposed leases in relation to crofting land that crofting communities wish to purchase under part 3 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. We will make clear how it is proposed to proceed once it has been decided how best to address the issue.

Agriculture

Eleanor Scott (Highlands and Islands) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of any inconvenience caused to farmers and crofters by the land management contract forms having to be filled out during the lambing season and whether it will ensure that the deadlines for completion of application forms in 2006 are farmer-friendly.

Ross Finnie: I am aware that the issue of land management contract application forms this year did coincide with the lambing season. It was precisely for this reason, and the desire to give farmers and crofters more time to reflect on what options best suited their individual businesses, that the deadline was extended to 6 June.

  In 2006, the intention is to issue land management contract application forms as part of the process covering the submission of Single Application Forms under the Integrated Administration and Control System. Farmers and crofters are very familiar with this process, and my department aim to issue all forms in mid-March for return by 15 May.

Agriculture

Eleanor Scott (Highlands and Islands) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive how many organically-certified farmers and crofters have not entered into Tier 2 of the Land Management Contracts Menu scheme.

Ross Finnie: Participants in the scheme are not required to provide information on their organic status and my department does not hold a register of organically-certified farmers and crofters. Therefore I cannot provide information on their participation in the Land Management Contract Menu (LMC) Scheme. Overlap between some of the LMC measures and the pre existing Organic Aid Scheme means that many organic farmers and crofters are already being paid for measures available to others under the LMC.

Birds

Cathy Peattie (Falkirk East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications have been made for licences to cull buzzards; how many licences have been granted; to whom they have been granted; on what grounds they were granted, and how many birds have been culled under each licence in each of the last five years.

Rhona Brankin: No licences have been granted by the Executive to cull buzzards. However, licences have been issued to take and kill, as a last resort, small numbers of buzzards for purposes specified in Section 16 of the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981, where there has been no other satisfactory solution. The number of applications per year and the details of licences granted are given in the following tables. Figures for the numbers of buzzards taken or killed under recent licences are not yet available. Names of individuals cannot be given as these are exempted under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 from public disclosure.

  Applications Per Year

  

Year
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005 
(to date)


No. of Applications
1
1
0
0
2
2
8



  Licences Granted

  

Year
Licence recipient
Purpose of Licence
Number of Birds Killed


2003
Private individual
To protect pedestrian from attack
0


2003
Edinburgh Airport
To protect Air Safety
0


2004
RAF Leuchars
To protect Air Safety
0


2004
Aberdeen Airport
To protect Air Safety
Not yet available


2005
Wick Airport
To protect Air Safety
Not yet available


2005
RAF Leuchars
To protect Air Safety
Not yet available


2005
Edinburgh Airport
To protect Air Safety
Not yet available

Birds

Cathy Peattie (Falkirk East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it anticipates, or will rule out the possibility, that licences to cull buzzards may be granted in order to protect game birds.

Rhona Brankin: Licence applications to kill or take wild birds are assessed on their individual merits. If Scottish ministers are satisfied that an application is for a purpose specified in Section 16 of the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981, and it can be shown that there is no other satisfactory solution, the issue of a licence may be considered.

Education

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-18440 by Peter Peacock on 8 September 2005, whether the figures provided for local authority capital expenditure on schools, excluding expenditure funded from revenue, in the financial years 1975-76 to 2004-05 are in cash terms or real terms.

Peter Peacock: The figures in the answer to S2W-18440 are in cash terms. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Education

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-18440 by Peter Peacock on 8 September 2005, what figures are available for PPP payments in respect of (a) primary, (b) secondary and (c) special schools in each year since PPP was introduced.

Peter Peacock: My answer to question S2W-18440 indicated that, in the case of Public Private Partnership projects, the capital expenditure is incurred by the private sector partner, not the local authority.

  The estimated amounts of capital spend on school buildings by the private sector during the construction phases of school PPP projects are set out in the table. The information does not differentiate between types of school.

  Existing School PPP Contracts (Operational and Signed): Estimated Capital Spend by Private Sector (£ Million in Cash Terms)

  

1998-99
19.5


1999-2000
41.4


2000-01
142.2


2001-02
243.7


2002-03
82.1


2003-04
26.9


2004-05
51.7



  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Education

Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average cost is of educating a primary schoolchild in (a) Scotland and (b) the Scottish Borders local authority area.

Peter Peacock: The information requested is available in Table 2.2 of the Scottish Executive Statistics Publication Expenditure on School Education in Scotland, 2005  which is available at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00389-00.asp.

Education

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive by what criteria ScotXed will assign a level of fluency in English to school pupils.

Peter Peacock: The question on level of fluency in English in this year’s pupil census is based on the following five categories, which have been agreed with local authorities:

  Stage 1 - New to English

  Stage 2 - Early Acquisition

  Stage 3 - Developing competence

  Stage 4 - Competent

  Stage 5 - Fluent.

  Fuller definitions are also provided; these are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 37502).

Education

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements have been made with ScotXed to assess the fluency level in English of every school pupil.

Peter Peacock: Schools and local authorities monitor all pupils' English language skills as a normal part of classroom assessment, using the 5-14 levels framework.

  The level of fluency assessment being used by local authorities relates to additional support for pupils with English as an Additional Language. There are therefore no plans to assess all pupils using these categories.

Education

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance has been produced for assessing fluency levels of, and assigning fluency levels to, bilingual pupils.

Peter Peacock: Guidance has been produced in consultation with members of the  Scottish EAL Coordinating Council, and is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 37502).

  Local authorities may have issued additional guidance to teachers.

Education

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what impact assignment to level 5 fluency by ScotXed will have on the provision of English as an Additional Language (EAL) support to bilingual pupils.

Peter Peacock: Provision of EAL support is for local authorities to determine. The assignment of the levels by teachers should enable schools and local authorities to better manage this provision.

Education

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how it monitors educational attainment by ethnic minority pupils and for how long it has done so.

Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive and the Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA) closely monitor the attainment levels of minority ethnic pupils to ensure that emerging trends and patterns are identified.

  Attainment data by ethnic background for S4 pupils in local authority schools has been published annually since March 2004. Pupil level information was not available prior to this. The March 2005 publication, SQA Attainment and School Leaver Qualifications in Scotland: 2003/04, is available via the Scottish Executive website – www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/04/04160342/03445.

  A copy is also available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 36264).

Education

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of S1 and S2 classes in (a) English and (b) mathematics have more than 20 pupils, broken down by local authority area.

Peter Peacock: The information requested is provided in the following tables, which show that around 8,000 S1-S2 English and Maths classes operated at more than 20 pupils in September 2003 the latest year for which figures are available.

  Maths S1 and S2. Number and percentage of classes with 20 or fewer pupils and 20 or more pupils by local authority as at September 2003:

  

 
Total Number 
of Classes
Number of Classes With 20 or Fewer Pupils
Percentage of Classes With 20 or Fewer Pupils
Number of Classes With More Than 20 Pupils
Percentage of Classes With More Than 20 Pupils


Aberdeen City
176
56
32
120
68


Aberdeenshire
240
33
14
207
86


Angus
106
9
8
97
92


Argyll and Bute
92
20
22
72
78


Clackmannanshire
55
34
62
21
38


Dumfries and Galloway
149
35
23
114
77


Dundee City
145
42
29
103
71


East Ayrshire
123
14
11
109
89


East Dunbartonshire
113
7
6
106
94


East Lothian
91
17
19
74
81


East Renfrewshire
97
7
7
90
93


Edinburgh, City of
325
84
26
241
74


Eilean Siar
46
42
91
4
9


Falkirk
128
10
8
118
92


Fife
323
39
12
284
88


Glasgow City
441
59
13
382
87


Highland
233
59
25
174
75


Inverclyde
82
15
18
67
82


Midlothian
98
35
36
63
64


Moray
96
23
24
73
76


North Ayrshire
145
27
19
118
81


North Lanarkshire
337
38
11
299
89


Orkney Islands
30
15
50
15
50


Perth and Kinross
115
20
17
95
83


Renfrewshire
176
41
23
135
77


Scottish Borders
115
27
23
88
77


Shetland Islands
38
25
66
13
34


South Ayrshire
111
22
20
89
80


South Lanarkshire
285
20
7
265
93


Stirling
85
8
9
77
91


West Dunbartonshire
102
22
22
80
78


West Lothian
165
32
19
133
81


Scotland
4,863
937
19
3,926
81



  English S1 and S2. Number and percentage of classes with 20 or fewer pupils by local authority as at September 2003:

  

 
Total Number 
of Classes
Number of Classes With 20 or Fewer Pupils
Percentage of Classes With 20 or Fewer Pupils
Number of Classes With More Than 20 Pupils
Percentage of Classes With More Than 20 Pupils


Aberdeen City
169
43
25
126
75


Aberdeenshire
241
27
11
214
89


Angus
106
2
2
104
98


Argyll and Bute
85
9
11
76
89


Clackmannanshire
55
36
65
19
35


Dumfries and Galloway
148
22
15
126
85


Dundee City
143
45
31
98
69


East Ayrshire
119
7
6
112
94


East Dunbartonshire
112
7
6
105
94


East Lothian
89
11
12
78
88


East Renfrewshire
98
6
6
92
94


Edinburgh, City of
324
60
19
264
81


Eilean Siar
45
39
87
6
13


Falkirk
129
11
9
118
91


Fife
320
24
8
296
93


Glasgow City
431
29
7
402
93


Highland
232
43
19
189
81


Inverclyde
80
4
5
76
95


Midlothian
96
23
24
73
76


Moray
96
13
14
83
86


North Ayrshire
139
11
8
128
92


North Lanarkshire
332
19
6
313
94


Orkney Islands
29
12
41
17
59


Perth and Kinross
114
14
12
100
88


Renfrewshire
160
9
6
151
94


Scottish Borders
111
10
9
101
91


Shetland Islands
36
26
72
10
28


South Ayrshire
103
10
10
93
90


South Lanarkshire
282
4
1
278
99


Stirling
85
4
5
81
95


West Dunbartonshire
97
9
9
88
91


West Lothian
161
14
9
147
91


Scotland
4,767
603
13
4,164
87



  Source: The data was collected separately as part of the September 2003 School Census to allow the Scottish Executive to calculate the number of additional secondary teachers required to meet the class size reduction element of the Partnership Agreement. Secondary class size data is not routinely collected as part of the School Census.

Employment

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many manufacturing jobs were created through inward investment in (a) Scotland, and (b) Glasgow in each of the last five years.

Nicol Stephen: The total number of manufacturing jobs which have been created through inward investment in Scotland and Glasgow is not collected. However, Scottish Development International (SDI) does provide information on the number of jobs planned to be created and safeguarded in different industry sectors through projects supported by SDI.

  The following table shows the number of planned jobs created for manufacturing sectors over the last five years, and the number of planned jobs created in the Glasgow postcode area over the same period. It should be noted that not all jobs created by a manufacturing project are necessarily manufacturing jobs.

  

Scotland
2000-01
2001-02
2002-03
2003-04
2004-05


Total Manufacturing Sectors
4,546
1,235
1,512
800
1,149


Glasgow Postcode 
2000-01
2001-02
2002-03
2003-04
2004-05


Total Manufacturing Sectors
992
133
28
211
 153



  Table : Manufacturing sector jobs planned to be created.

  Source: Scottish Development International.

Employment

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the growth rate in jobs was in Glasgow in each of the last seven years.

Nicol Stephen: Data on the number of employee jobs in Glasgow are available from the Annual Business Inquiry (ABI). Table 1 shows the number of employee jobs in Glasgow from 1996 to 2003 and the percentage change each year taken from the ABI.

  Table 1 Employee jobs in Glasgow 1996-20031,2

  

 
Total Employment
Percentage Change Each Year


1996
326,400
 


1997
341,100
+4.5%


1998
347,200
+1.8%


1999
354,200
+2.0%


2000
363,900
+2.8%


2001
387,700
+6.5%


2002
385,800
-0.5%


2003
385,300
-0.1%



  Source: Annual Business Inquiry.

  Notes:

  1. These data exclude agriculture class 0100 (SIC 92)

  2. The 2003 ABI data for aggregate areas is based on 2003 CAS wards which differs from previous years ABI data which was build from 1991 census wards. This change in geographies may give rise to discontinuity, however at local authority level discontinuities are negligible.

  3. Annual Business Inquiry data are workplace based.

  4. Data has been rounded to the nearest hundred.

Ferry Services

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it was aware of the European Commission’s decision of 15 July 2005 on state aid prior to the Minister for Transport’s meeting with Commissioner Barrot on 18 July.

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the implications for the tendering of Caledonian MacBrayne ferry routes of the European Commission’s Decision of 15 July 2005 on state aid were discussed by the Minister for Transport and Commissioner Barrot at their meeting on 18 July.

Tavish Scott: The Executive was advised of the decision on the day of its publication. However, the decision has no relevance for the tendering of the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services and the Executive was aware of this from its involvement in the lengthy consultation leading up to the publication of the decision. Paragraph 18 of the preamble to the decision makes it clear that subsidies in the maritime area must "also respect the sectoral rules contained in Council Regulation (EEC) No 3577/92 when applicable". It is to comply with Council Regulation 3577/92 (the Maritime Cabotage Regulation) that the Executive has decided to tender the services currently provided by Caledonian MacBrayne.

Ferry Services

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the statement made by the UK Government in its response to the European Commission’s Green Paper on Services of General Interest of May 2003, that the proposed model of splitting Caledonian MacBrayne into an infrastructure-owning company and an operating company creates "an artificial barrier" that "distances the development of the fleet from its operation".

Tavish Scott: The UK Government’s response reflected the Scottish Executive’s position at that time in relation to the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services. Given the constraints that European law imposes, this does not detract from the Executive view that the best way to tender the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services is through the establishment of a publicly-owned vessel and harbour owning company. This will ensure that the assets are retained in public ownership and made available on a long-term basis to the operator of the services.

Food Labelling

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in improving country of origin labelling.

Lewis Macdonald: The Food Standards Agency has advised me that it has recently undertaken a country of origin survey to investigate whether the best practice advice issued in the agency’s guidance document Food Labelling Country of Origin Guidance (published in 2002) is being followed in the market place. The survey sampled own-brand supermarket products and branded top sellers. The report is currently being finalised and will be published in September 2005.

  It is also likely that an EC review of food labelling legislation, which is currently underway, will address country of origin labelling. The agency supports an extension of country of origin labelling beyond the range of products covered by vertical Directives. In addition, it is important that this information is not misleading, for example when the origin of product and its primary ingredients differ. The agency recognises some of the difficulties involved in this area and the need to define terms such as "produce of", "provenance" and "origin". Furthermore, there is a need for any additional country of origin information to be clear and assessed for costs and benefits before any specific proposals are made.

  The Environmental Rural Affairs Department has advised me that they intend to consult shortly on a proposal to require the food service sector to inform consumers about the origin of beef, which they serve.

Forestry

Eleanor Scott (Highlands and Islands) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to amend its procurement rules to allow the purchase by public bodies of timber certified under the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) and Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) schemes, as has happened at a UK level.

Rhona Brankin: The Scottish Executive has no plans to amend its procurement rules. The policy and guidance is that purchasers should specify in orders and contracts that suppliers must provide evidence that timber has been lawfully obtained from forests or plantations that are being sustainably managed. Forest certification schemes are a useful guide to purchasers trying to establish whether these criteria have been met, and the Executive accepts the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs’ (Defra) assessment of which schemes provide acceptable assurances. PEFC and SFI have lifted their standards and following an assessment, Defra has added them to its list of acceptable schemes and will be monitoring their performance.

Health

Mrs Nanette Milne (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS Scotland publications there have been in each of the last six years.

Mrs Nanette Milne (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS board publications there have been in each of the last six years, broken down by NHS board.

Mrs Nanette Milne (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many publicly funded health publications there have been in each of the last six years.

Mr Andy Kerr: The information requested is not held centrally.

Justice

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive under what statutory authority it is withholding from the public domain the 106 productions to the public inquiry by Lord Cullen into the shootings at Dunblane primary school which are subject to a 100-year closure order.

Colin Boyd QC: On the issue of statutory authority, I refer to the answer to question S1W-34924 on 18 March 2003. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

  However, in line with the commitment that I gave in November 2004, officials of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service have completed the review process and have attended to the required editing of those documents. The redacted documents will be deposited with the National Archives of Scotland this week and will be available for inspection by members of the public from Monday 3 October 2005.

  The editing involved the removal from the documents the names of living individuals and replacing with individual designations, such as "Witness 1" or "Child A" to preserve anonymity but ensure that the edited documents would still make sense to any reader. The process of simply removing an individual’s name, in some documents, did not preserve anonymity. It was also considered that some of the documents contained distressing information about the victims and it is therefore not possible for each and every document to be released, even in an edited manner. The Closure Order in respect of files one to four will therefore remain in place for the specified period of 100 years. Files one to four contain profiles, photographs, medical reports and post mortem reports of the injured and deceased respectively. All of the other documents, in their redacted format, will be made available to the public.

NHS 24

Cathy Peattie (Falkirk East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what relationships exist between NHS 24 and patient support groups to assist in the delivery of NHS 24’s telephone helpline service.

Mr Andy Kerr: As part of its commitment to the national NHS Patient Focus Public Involvement (PFPI) strategy, NHS 24 has been working with voluntary sector, user and representative groups, such as Help the Aged, Racial Equality Councils and disability representative groups, such as the Scottish Council on Deafness and Deaf Connections, to ensure appropriate communications are developed to inform people about using NHS 24 and out-of-hours services. A partnership with Help the Aged recently launched a new booklet developed by older people, for older people, which is currently being piloted in the NHS Lothian area, with further national distribution planned at a later date (pending feedback from the pilot).

  In addition, NHS 24 regularly meets with a number of existing networks, such as community councils, groups for older people, parents and toddlers, patient council groups, the PFPI structures of other NHS boards and other interested parties.

  These activities serve two main purposes – to explain and describe how NHS 24 works in partnership with local NHS out-of-hours services and to receive feedback from people who have used the service, as part of continual service improvement.

NHS 24

Cathy Peattie (Falkirk East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether NHS 24 uses the independent medical knowledge and expertise of patient support groups to ensure that it has the best possible information in order to respond to enquiries to its telephone helpline service.

Mr Andy Kerr: Through its various Patient Focus Public Involvement (PFPI) activities, NHS 24 acknowledges the valuable contributions that "expert patients", carers and representative groups make to the service that is provided and how it can be improved. The organisation has frequent contact with various groups and individuals and actively encourages community councils, patient representative groups and others to engage in the service improvement initiatives.

  Feedback is already helping NHS 24 to redesign elements of its service, including to the patient journey and access to NHS 24 and the wider NHS services. Improved patient information, such as the Help the Aged booklet and posters and leaflets designed to help people who are profoundly deaf, hard of hearing or who have speech impairments, as well as those provided in minority ethnic languages.

  These initiatives have been carried out in partnership with users and will be built on as the service develops.

  Of final interest, NHS 24 is currently involved in a series of exploratory discussions with the Scottish Executive seeking to improve use of the range of National Helplines available, and to ascertain where NHS 24 expertise could provide a better and more direct service to patients and specific community groups.

NHS Staff

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) nursing vacancies and (b) employed nurses there have been in each NHS hospital in each of the last five years.

Mr Andy Kerr: Information on nursing staff in post and vacancies is not collected at hospital level. The lowest level of detail is by NHS board and this is published on the Scottish Health Statistics website under Workforce Statistics, at www.isdscotland.org/workforce .

  Section E gives details of nursing and midwifery vacancies and staff in post in  NHS Scotland. In particular, table E10 shows the whole-time equivalent (WTE) number of staff in post and vacancies broken down by NHS board area over the last five years. WTE adjusts headcount staff figures to take account of part – time staff. Latest available figures are at 31 March 2005.

NHS Staff

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) doctors, (b) nurses, (c) consultants and (d) auxiliary staff have been victims of violence in each NHS hospital in each of the last 10 years.

Mr Andy Kerr: The information asked for is not collected in the requested format. The data available on violence is published on the Scottish Health Statistics website under Workforce Statistics, www.isdscotland.org/workforce .

  Section A gives details of the overall summary of Workforce Statistics in NHS Scotland. In particular, table A8 shows the number of occupational injuries by staff group and type of organisation. Latest available figures are at 31 March 2004.

NHS Waiting Times

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people waited for more than 100 days for a hernia operation in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

Mr Andy Kerr: The majority of patients who require in-patient and day case treatment, including hernia operations, are treated quickly. Nearly 55% of patients treated in NHSScotland hospitals receive immediate treatment and never join a waiting list. Of those who do wait 41% are admitted within one month and almost 70% within three months.

  For those who wait longer, the current national maximum waiting time is nine months. This guaranteed waiting time will be reduced to six months from the end of 2005 and to 18 weeks from the end of 2007. On 30 June 2005, no NHSScotland patient with a guarantee had waited more than nine months for in-patient and day case treatment.

  The deferred waiting list was abolished on 1 April 2003. Prior to that date, patients admitted for treatment from the deferred list were excluded from any analysis of published retrospective waiting time data. Consequently, as the data prior to 1 April would not be directly comparable with later years, information has only been provided for 2003-04 and 2004-05. The information provided is derived from data on patients treated during the year and includes patients who will have had an Availability Status Code (ASC) applied, for example because they were medically unfit or asked for their admission to be deferred for personal reasons. The following table shows the number of patients who had waited more than a 100 days for a hernia operation in the years ending 31 March 2004 and 2005, by NHS board of residence.

  Number of Patients who had Waited More than 100 Days for a Hernia1 Operation, by NHS Board of Residence, for the Years Ending 31 March 2004 and 2005P

  

NHS Board Area
31 March 2004
31 March 2005P


Argyll and Clyde
316
342


Ayrshire and Arran
261
318


Borders
135
100


Dumfries and Galloway
153
119


Fife
414
399


Forth Valley
243
304


Grampian
521
522


Greater Glasgow
698
643


Highland
138
180


Lanarkshire
579
648


Lothian
853
758


Orkney
3
10


Shetland
3
5


Tayside
420
304


Western Isles
16
11


NHSScotland
4,753
4,663



  PProvisional.

  Note: 1. Hernia operations are defined as all OPCS4 procedures "T19" to "T27" inclusive.

NHS Waiting Times

Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time for a DEXA scan is in each NHS board area.

Mr Andy Kerr: The information requested is not held centrally.

Planning

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-18805 by Johann Lamont on 13 September 2005, how many of the applications called in were subsequently approved in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.

Johann Lamont: The following table shows a breakdown of figures on a local authority basis concerning the number of called in applications that were subsequently approved by Scottish ministers in each year since 1999.

  

Authority
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005 to1 Sept


Aberdeen
 
 
 
 
 
 
1


Aberdeenshire
 
 
 
 
 
2
1


Angus
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Argyle and Bute
 
1
 
1
 
 
 


Borders
 
1
 
 
2
1
1


Dumfries and Galloway
1
 
 
 
 
 
 


Dundee
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


East Ayrshire
1
 
 
 
 
 
 


East Dunbartonshire
1
 
 
 
 
 
 


East Lothian 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


East Renfrewshire
1
 
 
 
 
 
 


Edinburgh
2
 
1
 
 
 
 


Falkirk
 
2
 
 
 
 
 


Fife
 
 
 
1
 
 
 


Glasgow
1
 
 
 
 
 
 


Highland
2
2
5
 
 
 
 


Inverclyde
1
 
 
 
 
 
 


Loch Lomond NPA
 
 
 
 
 
1
 


Midlothian 
1
1
1
2
 
 
 


Moray
 
1
1
 
 
1
1


North Ayrshire
1
 
 
 
 
 
 


North Lanarkshire
3
1
 
1
 
 
 


Orkney 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Perth and Kinross
 
 
 
 
 
 
2


Shetland
 
 
 
 
1
 
 


South Ayrshire
1
 
 
 
 
 
 


South Lanarkshire
1
 
2
 
 
 
 


Stirling
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Western Isles
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


West Lothian
 
1
 
 
 
 
 


Total by Year
17
10
10
5
3
5
6

Public Transport

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding was allocated for public transport in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) local authority and (b) region and expressed also on a per capita basis.

Tavish Scott: For the information requested relating to financial years 2000-01 to 2002-03, I refer the member to the question S2W-5589 answered on 12 February 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament/webapp/wa.search .

  The following table shows the total funding committed by the Scottish Executive for 2003-04 and 2004-05 to each local authority under the Public Transport Fund (including separate allocations for Cycling, Walking and Safer Streets projects), the Rural Public Passenger Grant element of the Rural Transport Fund, the Integrated Transport Fund, Piers and Harbours grants and the appropriate GAE revenue grant allocations.

  

Local Authority
Population
2003-04
2004-05


Total Funding (£ Million)
Cost per Capita (£)
Total Funding (£ Million)
Cost per Capita (£)


Aberdeen City
206,600
5.753
27.85
5.675
27.47


Aberdeenshire
229,330
5.801
25.30
6.215
27.10


Angus
107,520
4.106
38.19
4.864
45.23


Argyll and Bute
91,300
3.597
39.40
8.263
90.51


Clackmannanshire
47,680
1.253
26.29
2.272
47.65


Dumfries and Galloway
147,210
5.695
38.69
6.627
45.01


Dundee City
143,090
8.612
60.18
10.055
70.27


East Ayrshire
119,530
5.209
45.38
4.902
41.01


East Dunbartonshire
106,970
4.295
40.15
4.477
41.86


East Lothian
91,090
2.497
27.41
2.631
28.88


East Renfrewshire
89,680
2.606
29.06
2.741
30.57


City of Edinburgh
448,370
25.104
55.99
24.284
54.16


Eilean Siar
26,100
2.549
97.66
1.917
73.46


Falkirk
145,920
4.910
33.65
4.093
28.05


Fife
352,040
13.701
38.92
17.063
48.47


Glasgow City
577,090
20.880
36.18
24.420
42.32


Highland
209,080
8.604
41.15
9.024
43.16


Inverclyde
83,050
3.974
47.85
2.638
31.76


Midlothian
79,710
3.040
38.14
2.145
26.91


Moray
87,460
2.822
32.27
2.974
34.00


North Ayrshire
136,030
4.975
36.58
5.440
39.99


North Lanarkshire
321,820
9.171
28.50
10.220
31.76


Orkney Islands
19,310
7.096
367.45
5.688
294.59


Perth and Kinross
135,990
5.879
43.23
4.415
32.46


Renfrewshire
170,980
5.071
29.66
5.225
30.56


Scottish Borders
108,280
4.232
39.09
3.988
36.83


Shetland Islands
21,870
6.481
296.36
6.609
301.19


South Ayrshire
111,580
4.674
41.89
4.428
39.69


South Lanarkshire
303,010
9.422
31.09
9.442
31.16


Stirling
86,370
4.295
49.73
3.209
37.16


West Dunbartonshire
92,320
3.355
36.34
3.236
35.05


West Lothian
161,020
5.777
35.88
3.588
22.29


Scotland
5,057,400
205.44
40.62
212.77
42.07



  Notes:

  1. Population figures: Mid-year estimates, GRO(S) 2003.

  2. Piers and Harbours grants are allocated on a project basis and not on a year-by-year basis. The figures included therefore reflect expenditure as claimed by the relevant authorities.

  Allocations were also made to Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority (SPTA) from the Public Transport Fund and the Integrated Transport Fund as follows:

  

SPTA
2,101,900
20.123
9.57
22.522
10.72



  Allocations from the Public Transport Fund and Integrated Transport Fund were made to the voluntary regional transport partnerships as follows:

  

Voluntary Regional Transport Partnership
Population
2003-04
2004-05


Total Funding (£ Million)
Cost per Capita (£)
Total Funding (£ Million)
Cost per Capita (£)


HITRANS
433,806
2.665
6.14
5.200
11.99


NESTRANS
435,930
2.353
5.40
2.195
5.04


SESTRAN
1,656,470
7.139
4.31
12.489
7.54


WESTRANS
2,133,374
3.708
1.74
7.083
3.32

Rail Network

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-18559 by Tavish Scott on 15 September 2005, whether it will publish the outcome of its review of the cost estimate prepared by the Waverley Railway Partnership and, if so, when.

Tavish Scott: The review undertaken by the Scottish Executive was an inspection of the information, assumptions and cost estimates prepared by the promoter, the Waverley Railway Partnership. No report is available for publication.

Rail Network

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-18559 by Tavish Scott on 15 September 2005, what the conclusions were of its review of the cost estimate prepared by the Waverley Railway Partnership.

Tavish Scott: The conclusions of the review undertaken by the Scottish Executive of the current cost estimates prepared by the Waverley Railway partnership are that they are in line with what could reasonably be expected for the project at its current stage of development.

Rail Network

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-18631 by Tavish Scott on 15 September 2005, whether the criteria referred to are applied to all requests for additional funding for rail projects.

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-18629 by Tavish Scott on 15 September 2005, whether it will make any conclusions emerging from the lessons learned report on the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine project available to the promoters of the Waverley Railway (Scotland) Bill and the Parliament in advance of completion of the full report.

Tavish Scott: Yes.

Rail Network

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-18629 by Tavish Scott on 15 September 2005, when the lessons learned report from the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine project will be published.

Tavish Scott: It is expected that the report will be completed for publication by the end of the year.

Renewable Energy

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether, during the current review of the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) scheme, it has considered proposals, or received representations from hydro generators or others, to raise the capacity limit below which a hydro-generating plant is eligible for accreditation under the Renewables Obligations (Scotland) scheme to over 20MW and, if so, what limits and/or conditions were proposed.

Nicol Stephen: One representation was received regarding generation within existing civil works of hydro stations, and which also proposed removing the 20MW threshold. This was outwith the scope of the review and has not been taken forward.

Renewable Energy

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether, during the current review of the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) scheme, it has considered proposals, or received representations from hydro generators or others, to allow the downrating to below 20MW of any hydro-generation plant whose capacity is over 20MW to make it eligible for accreditation under the Renewables Obligations (Scotland) scheme.

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether, during the current review of the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) scheme, it has considered proposals, or received representations from hydro generators or others, to allow any hydro-generation plant downrated to below 20MW capacity prior to 1 April 2002 and later refurbished to be restored to its former capacity without losing accreditation under the Renewables Obligations (Scotland) scheme.

Nicol Stephen: No such proposals were received or considered. One representation was received regarding the extension of eligibility to new generation within existing civil works of hydro stations, and which also proposed removing the 20MW threshold. This was outwith the scope of the review and has not been taken forward.

Roads

Euan Robson (Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is a statutory duty to replace common or public land used for recreational purposes where a trunk road is constructed on such land and, if so, on whom that duty falls and what the statutory reference is.

Tavish Scott: There is no statutory duty on the Scottish ministers to replace public land which has been used for road building.

Sport

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much financial assistance the Scottish Institute of Sport received from the  sportscotland Lottery Sports Fund in 2001-02 and 2002-03.

Patricia Ferguson: In 2001-02 and 2002-03 the Scottish Institute of Sport claimed £2,456,811 and £3,384,000 respectively from the  sportscotland Lottery Sports Fund.

Sport

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what projects have been undertaken and invested in by sportscotland in the (a) Sports Facilities – School and Community Strand, (b) Sports Facilities – Local Facilities Strand, (c) Sports Facilities – Swimming Pool Upgrade Strand and (d) Building for Sport – Community Facility Strand in each year since 2000.

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-18145 by Patricia Ferguson on 24 August 2005, why the funding for Building for Scotland – Community Facility Strand in 2004-05 was £4,422,790 less than that spent on Sports Facilities – School and Community Strand, Sports Facilities – Local Facilities Strand and Sports Facilities – Swimming Pool Upgrade Strand in 2003-04 and where the shortfall has been reallocated.

Patricia Ferguson: This information is not held centrally. I have, however, asked the Chair of  sportscotland to write to the member with the information that they have available.

Statistics

Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many times it has been in breach of the National Statistics Code of Practice in respect of the production of statistics in each year since 1999.

Mr Tom McCabe: National Statistics came into force in June 2000 and the Code of Practice was issued in 2002. Information on breaches of the Code of Practice are published each year in the Chief Statistician’s Annual Report, which can be accessed via the links below. Six breaches occurred between 2002-03 and 2003-04. All but one of these breaches occurred because information was released before publication date, and were not incidents where information was amended or withheld. The remaining breach was due to a technical problem resulting in data not being available on time.

  2001-02: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/finance/chiefstats0102.pdf.

  Although the code of practice was in draft at this time, it was reported that, as in the 2001 report, there were no breaches of the principles of the code.

  2002-03: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/933/0004381.pdf.

  Three breaches were reported.

  2003-04: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/04/AnnualReport2004.

  Three breaches were reported.

  2004-05: The Chief Statistician’s 2005 Annual Report is due to published later this year and will report that there were no breaches in 2004-05.

  2005-06: The Chief Statistician is currently investigating a recent breach of the Code of Practice.

Teachers

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many probationer teachers did not obtain a full-time, permanent post at the end of their probationary period in each of the last three years, broken down by subject.

Peter Peacock: This information is not held centrally. However, research carried out by the General Teaching Council for Scotland with the 2002-03 and 2003-04 probationers who successfully completed their probationary year has shown that 96% of respondents are currently teaching in Scotland. The data is not subject specific.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Allowances Scheme

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will review the Edinburgh accommodation allowance scheme, in light of recent public concern about some MSPs making personal profit from increased housing values in Edinburgh.

Duncan McNeil: As Mr Canavan will recollect, the current allowances scheme was considered, and approved, by the Parliament in 2001. The Edinburgh accommodation allowance would only be reviewed in the context of a general review of the members' allowances scheme.